But even parrots can build beautiful things.

This blog is partly self-reflection, and partly a step in the process of building compounding good habits.

But it is also about creating a platform and collection of content that I can use in the future to build beautiful things.
(In the not too distant future I’m going to start writing about my music-making process, and linking to my songs here. So if you want to be part of that journey, watch this space.)

As I have been putting the pieces in place for a future that includes exercising my creativity and getting paid for it, I realise I keep using the phrase:

“Build beautiful things.”

This idea captivates and motivates me, in no small part because most of my last 8 years have been spent doing what I must (read: lots of admin) to help pay the bills.

That is no insignificant thing, but as the years passed and I kept saying “I will get back to writing music eventually“, I lost contact with that animating force that powered me through tight deadlines and late nights at 13thFLOOR.

See, back then I was in the honeymoon phase. And while writing music was my job, it was also my bride; the most beautiful thing in my life that, no matter the expectations or frustrations, kept me completely captivated.

Then I left the fertile creative space that was 13thFLOOR, and the honeymoon went with it. And we fell into the rhythm of so many quietly unhappy relationships, constantly in each other’s space but quality time a celebrated memory, approached in flushes of nostalgia but otherwise completely ignored.

Two things have held me back from writing more music. (This is actually true of most creative endeavours in my life, now that I think of it.)

The first is an urgent need to be original. For as long as I can remember, I have always looked for a different angle, a new perspective, a fresh way of saying or doing something. I’m not certain if this is a character thing, a therapy thing or something else entirely, but it is so core to my process I can’t imagine doing life any other way.

In a creative industry at a time where anyone with a laptop and a few ideas can make great music, the subconscious drive to be “original” can be suffocating. And my Friday ritual of listening to new releases on Apple Music just amplify that there is truly nothing new under the sun. So instead of writing through the shit to get to the gold, I would get started, get bored and stop.

The second thing is my tendency towards detail-focused perfectionism. You see, most people I know of write music in one of two ways:

1. Write lyrics
2. Add a basic song structure
3. Mess with the arrangement until it clicks
4. Ship it

Or

1. Take a good melody / musical idea
2. Create a basic song structure with it
3. Add lyrics
4. Refine it
5. Ship it

My process most of the time — when I don’t impose strict constraints —  is something along the lines of:

1. Come up with an awesome groove or 10 second concept
2. Clone the groove / concept and mess with the arrangement
3. Get to about 1 minute’s worth of content, and realise that I’m not happy with so many details, because “they are the soul of the song” (or whatever other bullshit my subconscious sells me to get me into perfection mode).
4. Spend the rest of the time I have available (and often more besides) messing with individual midi notes, refining drum grooves, and generally hyperfocusing on the details instead of writing a whole song
5. Shut down Logic happy that I wrote something, but frustrated that it is yet ANOTHER 1-minute clip that went nowhere

I know I can do a lot with those 1-minute clips, given time.

The issue is that my perfectionism feeds off my need for originality. So instead of coming back to that clip later — because perfecting is so much more work than creating — I play with a new idea. And so the cycle goes on.

What does this have to do with parrots, you may be wondering?

The thing is — as Picasso and Austin Kleon say far more eloquently than I — mostly everything that we create today is largely inspired by or derived from someone else’s work.

(In related news, I read the other day that some smart dudes built an algorithm to write every single possible melody, then released them all under the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license to “head off costly infringement litigation that can hobble creative freedom.” So technically, no pop thing I ever write will be truly original. ~sighs)

Even Solomon (scholars think) felt this tension about 2400 years ago (and that was before the internet and mind-bending algorithms):

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Eccl. 1:9

We are all parrots.

Everything has already been said; everything has already been created. We’re just repeating it back into infinitely patient ears of history.

So unburden yourself from perfect originality, and just build beautiful things.

Because even while it is not new, in your context, it is.

Because even while it is not perfect, it is good enough.

(And as a bonus, regularly building beautiful things will also build generative habits. Yay!)

Because seriously, I suck at discipline and habits. And I don’t want to suck at that, because… well, lots of reasons I’ll probably get into in the future.

So I’m going to recommit again. To writing at least 10 minutes a day, Monday to Friday, with the goal of creating at least one substantiative piece looking out into our messy glorious world, and at least one reflective piece as part of my commitment to self-work.

So here we are again. At the beginning.

Let’s go!

We’re trying to learn new skills.
We’re trying to unlearn old habits.
We’re trying to exercise more.
We’re trying to eat better with what we have available.
We’re trying to be more present with loved ones (digitally and in person).
We’re trying to survive being locked into the same space as family and flatmates for the foreseeable future.

I recently came across an excellent tool in this article by James Clear to help this process along — habit stacking. In short, we’re making it easier to learn a new habit by building it on top of a pre-existing habit (further, cue). The key is that the cue needs to be something specific we already do during the day, preferably at a regular time. To quote from the article: “By linking your new habits to a cycle that is already built into your brain, you make it more likely that you’ll stick to the new behavior.”

Habit stacking is built on a very simple formula:
After/Before [CUE], I will [NEW HABIT].

For example:

• After I wake up, I will immediately get out of bed and stretch for 5 minutes.
• Before I make my second cup of coffee for the day, I will drink a glass of water.
• After I shower/bath, I will stay in the bathroom and meditate for 2 minutes.

There are two keys ideas to make this practice work for you.

1. Chose a cue that is highly specific and immediately actionable.
2. Choose a cue at a practical time of the day that suits the habit you want to build.

In my case, I want to start writing more regularly. To follow the points above, I need to find a good cue. Something like “when I finish work” is too nebulous (in my work environment, I don’t have any specific cues for finishing my work for the day). But “On Tuesdays and Thursdays after I put my boy to bed for his midday nap” is specific, immediately actionable and a practical time of day for me.

The more specific and actionable the cue is, the easier you will find it to build a new habit around. In my case, something like “when I break for lunch” might sound specific, but does that mean:

• When I close my laptop before eating lunch?
• After I have made my lunch but before I’ve eaten it?
• While I’m eating lunch?

Whereas “On Tuesdays and Thursdays after I put my boy to bed for his midday nap” is precise, repetitive, and an easy cue on which to stack a habit.

Choosing a time that suits the habit you want to build requires you to consider the habit you want to build within your own context. For example, you can add drinking more water to mostly any cue at any time of the day, But if your new habit requires focus or a reasonable amount of time (such as exercise or creative output), you should consider:

• How much uninterrupted time will I have before/after the cue?
• Will I be suffering from decision fatigue at that time of the day? Will that affect my ability to practice my new habit?
• Are there regular environmental (weather / available space / family or work interruptions etc.) factors that will influence my ability to practice the habit?

If the cue for your creative habit is closing your laptop at the end of the day, but you finish most work days exhausted, you’re very unlikely to sustain a new habit at that time of the day.
Or if you want to carve out creative time for yourself in the evenings after supper, but you know that putting the kids to bed can take anything from 10 minutes to 3 hours…well, you’re just going to end up frustrated.

Choose a cue that is specific and actionable, but also one that fits your context.

Finally, the real value of habit stacking is… well, that you can use it to stack multiple habits on top of each other. For example:

1. After I wake up, I will immediately get out of bed and stretch for 5 minutes.
2. After I have stretched, I will make my partner and I coffee
3. After I finish my coffee, I will pray / meditate for 3 minutes.
4. After I pray / meditate, I will kiss my partner and move to my work space (even if it is just a place where you prep to leave for the office)
5. Once I am in my work space, I will check my diary for any appointments / meetings, and make a list of anything I need to bring or prepare for them

And so on. How you use this tool is limited to your context and creativity. And of course, the amount of discipline you have to actually follow through.

I’m still getting started with this tool, so I’ll have to get back to you on how it works for me. Has this tool impacted your life? Let me know in the comments below.

There are a lot of fascinating theories related to this one which I am not going to get into for the practice of staying focused and to keep this post to a readable length, but you are welcome to dig deeper if you have the time and inclination:

1. The cycle of building new habits (Cue — Craving — Response — Reward)
   • Read the wiki here (a general overview on habits)
   • James Clear’s take on the matter
   • Scholarly articles on creating habits
2. Implementation intention
   • Read the wiki here
   • James Clear’s take on the matter
   • Scholarly articles on implementation intention
3. Synaptic pruning
   • Read the wiki here
   • Healthline’s summary on the topic
   • Scholarly article on synaptic pruning
4. Decision fatigue
   • Read the wiki here
   • James Clear’s take on the matter
   • Scholarly articles on decision fatigue